Ursa Major
by King Under the Mountain
Summary: Starting nearly a month before the Chunnin Exams, events are changed by the presence of one person. Whether it is for better or worse is yet to be determined. For now, rated T for language, maybe raised to M for eventual violence later. OCx?


**A/N: Alright people, this is my first attempt at a Naruto fanfic, so please excuse me for getting extremely specific details incorrect. If there is something that is blatantly incorrect, then please point it out, but no flaming. The main focus of this story is not on Naruto (definitely not an original concept) but rather the OC character, but Naruto and the main crew will still play a major part. Enjoy.**

Prologue

Onoki, the Sandaime Tsuchikage, cursed under his breath as he worked a cramp out of his left hand. When he heard a distinct pop, he grumbled some more even though the pressure in his wrist had alleviated for the moment.

Why was he grumbling?

For two reasons. The first being that he was only a third of the way though the mountain of paperwork that all Kages seemed to have on a daily basis. The other reason was that he was just plain old. When a person got to his age, they were allowed to groan and complain about anything they damn well pleased.

Not for the first time, the old shinobi wondered if he should indeed step down and let the next generation have at it. There were a few decent candidates, and he trusted at least one of them. He shook his head.

No, he liked being in charge, even if the job did cause constant migraines and stress. Maybe in a few more years…

A knock at the door pulled his attention from his musings, "Enter."

The heavy wooden doors swung open to reveal his ANBU high captain, Kuma. His face was hidden by his eponymous bear mask and the only part of his head not concealed was a shock of shaggy black hair that seemed to try to go every direction at once. Iwa did not have a particular standard for when it came to black ops identities, so each chose their own code name and corresponding mask.

He was tall, a little more than six feet in height, which made his lack of muscular bulk all the more obvious. Aside from his customized Iwa ANBU uniform, which consisted of a black jumpsuit with red plates that protected major organs and a pair of plated shinobi sandals, he wore a blood-red sleeveless longcoat that reached down past his knees. His arms were bare aside from a pair of gray bracers, revealing the black tattoos on each. Identical swirling, hypnotic patterns adorned each forearm, while the tattoos on each shoulder were geometric in shape.

There was a slight clink as the shinobi walked to the center of the room, his katana bumping lightly against his back armor. A trio of oversized sealing scrolls hung from straps at the small of his back, stacked horizontally.

Onoki raised a bushy eyebrow, "Planning a trip, Kuma?"

"Yes, Tsuchikage-sama. I found a lead on a personal matter and I wanted to ask for indefinite hiatus to investigate," Kuma nodded, his voice slightly muffled by the mask.

"Do you have someone to take over your duties while you are gone?" the kage inquired. It'd be bad if Iwa's ANBU operations were suddenly left without a commander.

"Baja. She's got the experience, just lacked the opportunity. This would be good for her," he replied.

The Tsuchikage nodded, "Well, I don't see a problem. Might I ask where this lead is?"

The ANBU paused, "Konohagakure, Tsuchikage-sama."

The old man blinked and stared. The silence spread across three seconds, "Request denied."

Kuma sighed and shook his head, "I figured that you would say that. Unfortunately, you can't stop me now."

"Oh, you think that you can get out of this office?" Onoki motioned for the other ANBU stationed in the office. Four black-clothed and masked shinobi appeared from each corner of the room.

The ANBU captain chuckled under his mask, making the occupants of the room pause in confusion.

"What's so amusing, Kuma?" the diminutive shinobi asked irritably. He did not like being made fun of.

"My apologies, Tsuchikage-sama, but catching me right now would be impossible," Kuma remarked, "You see, I left five hours ago." With that, the ANBU crumpled into a pile of rocks and dirt.

"A Chikyu Bunshin," Onoki growled. Turning to the others, he barked, "Find him!"

"Hai, Tsuchikage-sama," In a flash, the four remaining ANBU disappeared.

Sighing, the old kage swiveled his chair around to look out the window behind him, which had the best view of Iwagakure.

Now he had a third reason to grumble.

* * *

Kuma smirked under his mask as he felt his clone dispel. Mission accomplished, and he was too far away and moving too fast for them to catch up. Though he had left only five hours previously, he was already nearly halfway to his destination. **Doton: Suana Hori no Jutsu (Earth Release: Burrow Digger Jutsu)** was handy for both making escapes and travelling by tunneling into the earth, and the snake seal was not uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time. He had pushed more chakra into the jutsu to make himself go faster.

By now, he was well passed the border of the Land of Rice Fields. Starting to feel the stiffness from not moving much for hours on end and the effects of low chakra, the shinobi surfaced quickly. Remembering to close his eyes for a second so he wasn't blinded by sunlight, he breached the surface. He couldn't suppress a sigh when he breathed in fresh air again.

A look around ensured that he had not surfaced inside of a building or the middle of a town. Instead, he was just off the side of a well-kept road. Kuma pulled himself fully out of the ground and lifted the mask off of his face, revealing a tanned face with high cheekbones and gray eyes. He looked to be in his mid-thirties, as the creases of aging had started to appear. The sun was starting to dip down past the horizon as he walked further away from the road to find a clearing.

Picking a storage scroll from off of his belt, he laid it out and unfurled it. With a pulse of chakra, the scroll released a completely set up tent and a sleeping bag. Another scroll released some trail rations, which he ate quickly before going to relieve himself. With a few hand seals, he created a clone to keep watch before crawling into the tent for the night. In the morning, he would start up again.

* * *

"Kakashi-sensei, why did we just spend the past three days wandering around?" Naruto asked, obviously irritated.

"Because I thought you guys needed to get out of the village for a while and train," The infamous Copy-nin gave one of his eye smiles.

"I'm not sure sitting out in a forest and roasting marshmallows is considered training," The blonde shinobi grumbled, "And your campfire singing sucks. I think you cracked a few of my shuriken." Sakura and, strangely, Sasuke both nodded their heads in agreement.

The jounin looked insulted, "I'll have you know my sensei taught me those songs. It's a tradition to pass them down to the next generation."

"Is it a tradition to try to kill them too?" the genin complained.

Kakashi shrugged, "If they don't do well, yeah."

Naruto's eyes bugged out and he dived behind Sakura, who promptly punched him straight in the face with an annoyed cry of "Baka!"

Sasuke palmed his face and muttered something under his breath while their sensei chuckled. Both immediately stopped when a small mound of earth started rising in the middle of the road. A spikey black-haired head popped out and looked around. All four froze as it turned to face them. Sakura shrieked and immediately jumped into Sasuke's arms. The black-haired genin made a disgusted face and promptly dropped the pinkette.

A white ANBU mask in the shape of a bear stared back at them in silence for a moment before he pulled the rest of himself out of the ground. The dirt seemed to just fall off of his red longcoat as he rose out of the ground, and the katana and scrolls on his back were untouched. The all-too familiar symbol of Iwagakure was displayed on the Hitai-ate wrapped around the man's neck.

Kakashi immediately pulled out a kunai and ordered, "You three stay back." He looked at the masked shinobi, "Identify yourself."

Shrugging, the man pushed his mask up off of his face. The Copy-nin almost dropped his kunai in shock. Seeing that, Naruto asked, "What's wrong, Kakashi-sensei? Who is this guy?"

Their teacher's expression was one of cold calculation, trying to find the best solution, "Yamamoto Daichi, jounin of Iwagakure. Veteran of the Third Shinobi War." He positioned himself as best he could between the opponent and his students, "He had a 'flee on sight' order since the beginning of the war, and it's still maintained."

"As for what he is doing here in the Land of Fire, I can't say," Kakashi frowned under his mask.

Daichi raised an eyebrow before reaching into his haori and pulling out his Bingo Book, "What did he say your name was again? Kakashi?" He wasn't worried in the slightest that there was a jounin and his genin team in front of him, brandishing weapons. The Iwa-nin calmly flipped through the pages until he found the right one, "Ah, Hatake Kakashi, the Copy-nin, master of a thousand jutsu. Interesting. But I'm not here to deal with you, as much as Tsuchikage-jiji would have loved that. I'm here for something else." His gray eyes swept over the team as he slipped the book back into the hidden pocket, but froze at Naruto.

He pointed a finger at the genin, "You look familiar, have I threatened you before?"

"Me?" Naruto squeaked, suddenly shaking slightly, "I've never met you before!"

The older man shrugged, "Oh well. Now if you would get out of my way, I'd like to continue my journey to Konoha unobstructed."

"You realize that I can't allow you to do that, right?" Kakashi stated, keeping his eye on Daichi.

"You realize that I can just plow through you, right?" The Iwa-nin deadpanned.

Kakashi sighed, falling into the banter, "Yeah…But I can't just let you pass." He glanced back at the others and let out a tired breath, "You three head back and warn the village. I'll hold him off."

"Hold me? What was that about a 'flee on sight' order?" Daichi snorted, "And I can't let you genin head back either, because I'd rather not have one and a half shinobi villages on my ass."

"One and a half?" the Copy-nin muttered under his breath.

"Screw that, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto suddenly shouted, "We took Zabuza together, and we can take him, _dattebayo!_"

That caused a pause in Daichi. Again he looked at the orange-clad shinobi with a scrutinizing expression, "Alright, after I'm done beating these guys, you and I are going to have a long talk about that phrase you just used."

The blonde blinked, "What?"

"Don't feel left out, I'm still gonna beat the shit out of you. I just won't knock you out," By the time he said that, Kakashi had already lifted his hitai-ate off of his other eye, revealing the Sharingan underneath, "Besides, if you are who I think you are, you can take it."

"And who says you can take all of us?" Sasuke sneered.

Daichi grinned and made a few hand-seals, "**Doton: Chikyu Bunshin no Jutsu.**" Four mounds of earth rose from the ground to form into identical copies of the original. He poked a thumb in either direction, "These guys say so."

Kakashi gave the Uchiha a glare, "When will you learn to stop taunting S-rank shinobi? Especially ones that were able to go toe to toe with the Yondaime single-handed." Sakura's eyes rolled back and she immediately fainted upon hearing that.

The Iwa-nin stared at the pinkette for a moment before asking Sasuke, "Does that happen often?"

The preteen pinched the bridge of his nose, "More often than you would expect."

"Oh well, makes my job easier," Daichi shrugged.

"Ha! I can do better! **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!**" Naruto declared. Smoke erupted around the road, and when it cleared, dozens of clones congested the road and the trees around it.

_…Wow. That's a lot of clones._ Each of Daichi's clones turned in a different direction, but remained in a circle.

Sasuke quickly performed the hand-seals to his signature jutsu, "**Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu!**" A great blast of flame burst from the Uchiha's mouth and raced towards the enemy shinobi.

Smirking, the ANBU held up his left hand, "**Fuinjutsu: Yamagarapasu no shīru (Seal of Varied Paths).**"

The tattoo on his forearm and palm lit up as they came in contact with the fire, but his skin didn't burn. Instead, the chakra that made up the technique was absorbed into the seal, leaving the flames with no fuel. The seal glowed an angry red, signifying the type of chakra within. Sasuke's jaw dropped.

"Impressive Katon. Let me show you mine," Daichi's hands were a blur as he went through the gestures, and his clones mimicked the action. All of them stated the name of the ninjutsu simultaneously, "**Katon: Doragonburesu no Jutsu(Fire Release: Dragon's Breath Jutsu).**"

At the same time, Kakashi had copied the hand-seals and completed it just in time. Torrents of fire blasted out at everything in front of each. The clones began to circle, filling in the gaps between each cone. The Copy-nin's one flame jet was soon overwhelmed by the superior number of Daichi's.

Kakashi had to grab Sakura to get her out of range as they fell back. Jumping into a tree further down the road, the conscious members of Team 7 watched as Naruto's Bunshin were utterly annihilated by the swirling death.

The genin saw the world swirl and shift as so many clones died at once. Just before passing out from information overload, Naruto thought that the spinning flames looked like a whirlpool.

* * *

Daichi released the jutsu as he felt his chakra reserves begin to get dangerously low. He had been severely drained by his trip, and the additional attacks had not helped. Some of his abilities did not need his own chakra to activate, such as his **Fuinjutsu: Yamagarapasu no shīru (Seal of Varied Paths).** Everything else, however…

Frowning, the Iwa-nin and all of his clones drew their respective katana off of their backs. The blade of the weapon was not sharp, allowing it to be used as a non-lethal weapon. However, if chakra was channeled into the blade, that property would change fast.

"Running out of steam, Yamamoto?" Kakashi called from the tree.

"I said I wanted to beat the shit out of you, not kill you," Daichi snapped back, "Now get your asses down here and face me, or I'm coming for you." He was getting irritated.

The masked-nin chuckled a little before looking down at the pinkette, "Wake up, I'm tired of carrying you." He quickly slapped her across the face, which had immediate results, "No fainting in the middle of a battle."

"Sorry, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura muttered as she stood up on her own, a sheepish look on her face.

Their sensei pointed to the Naruto, "Sakura, take him to cover and try to wake him up." The pinkette, with some difficulty, picked up the blonde.

Now that he didn't have to put immediate attention on his students, Kakashi turned his gaze back to the Iwa jounin. He noticed slight things with his Sharingan that Daichi was trying to cover up. A barely-noticeable misstep, light bags under his eyes, white-knuckle grip on his katana, a sagging of his shoulders. A rock fell off from one of the clones.

His eyes widened as he realized that his taunt had actually been correct, "Sasuke, use your Sharingan and look at him. What do you see?"

As the Uchiha obeyed, the look on his face shifted to one of surprise as he came to the same conclusion, "He's suffering from…chakra exhaustion?"

Several scenarios ran through Kakashi's head, "He wasn't expecting to fight anybody, or at least not right now." He let out a helpless chuckle, "I never thought anyone would be able to catch him unprepared. We might actually have a chance."

Sasuke's face broke into a frown, "I'm sensing a "but" there, sensei."

"His chakra is near exhausted, but his body is fine. Getting in close would be a bad ide-"

"You would be right," Daichi remarked from behind them just as the blunt katana cracked against the back of Sasuke's head, effectively knocking him out, "And I did warn you about making me wait."

The Copy-nin used Shunshin to get both himself and the unconscious Sasuke out of the way. He looked at the Daichis on the road, which all looked back with an identical smirk.

The jounin facepalmed, "All five of those are clones, aren't they? We didn't even see the real you until just now."

"Yep." The real Daichi gleefully informed him from his perch in the tree as the other five crumbled into piles of dirt and rocks. His expression shifted to a more serious one, "Now if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to stop fighting. As entertaining as it was to beat the crap out of your team, I'm tired enough as it is and now I've got more questions than before I left Iwa. Now I suggest you take me to your Hokage before I decide to get _nasty_."

Kakashi glared at him, weighing his options. Even in his weakened state, Daichi was not an opponent that any sane shinobi wanted to face one-on-one. On the other hand, the silver-haired nin was still almost at full strength chakra wise.

"Oh, and I'll need to talk to the gaki in orange as well."

"Naruto? Why?" The Konoha-nin asked suspiciously.

"So his name's Naruto, huh? His parents were sadistic enough to name him after a ramen topping?" The swordsman chuckled, before bursting out into a belly laugh.

"IT'S MAELSTROM, DAMMIT!" A familiar voice shouted from the bushes. Daichi still had an amused smirk as he glanced over, but soon dropped it as nearly one hundred orange-wearing kunai-wielding Kage Bunshin jumped up at him.

In a flurry of motion, Daichi slashed and cut in every direction possible, slicing his way through nearly ten Bunshin as the rest tried to dogpile him. He noted that one of them managed to land a cut on his left cheek. Deciding that enough was enough, he channeled fire chakra into the katana and released it in a wave. The flame wave tore through the clones like tissue paper until it hit the original, who cried out in pain.

In a flash, Daichi was holding the blonde by the back of his jumpsuit with the blade held to his throat. Channeling earth chakra this time, he molded the blade to have a sharpened edge. A stray leaf from overhead landed on the edge and was immediately bisected.

"Now, if you would. Stop." The Iwa-nin demanded, no longer amused in the slightest.

Kakashi bit back a growl of irritation, "Let Naruto go, and we'll take you to the Hokage."

"I want a blood oath that you won't attack me on the way. After I talk to the Hokage, then we can decide whether or not to go for round two."

"Paranoid much?" The Copy-nin grimaced under his mask.

Daichi shrugged, "It's kept me alive this long. Just because you think everyone is out to get you, doesn't mean that they aren't."

"Fine," Kakashi spat. He pricked a finger with his kunai, rolled up the sleeve on the opposite arm, and drew the seal, "I swear that I shall not attack Yamamoto Daichi until I take him to meet with the Sandaime Hokage. If I should break it, let my chakra be sealed." The blood seal glowed before disappearing, "Good enough?"

"Yeah," the ANBU replied, releasing Naruto, "Now let's get going." He paused, "But before I do that…" He pulled out a kunai and put a deep scratch through the Iwa symbol on his Hitai-ate, "It won't be official for a few days, but I am technically a missing-nin. I didn't get permission from Tsuchikage-jiji to leave."

"Why are you here anyway?" the masked shinobi asked, still fuming from being forced to take a blood oath, "What is it that made you abandon your village?"

Daichi looked solemn for a moment, "I found a lead on my family. I haven't seen anyone from my clan in nearly thirty years. You'd damn well better believe that I would drop everything to go after it."

Naruto, ever one to spring back from danger, gave the missing-nin a sympathetic look before shooting a question to his sensei, "Is there anyone in Konoha named Yamamoto?"

Kakashi shook his head, his gaze never leaving Daichi, "No, at least not any shinobi clans by that name."

"It wouldn't be a clan since most were wiped out, but I digress. Come on, I want to get to Konoha before dark," With that, he whipped around and started heading down the road and stopped, "Hey, fish cake," Naruto's head snapped back so fast it almost gave him whiplash, "What's your family name?"

"Uzumaki. Why?"

Daichi didn't turn around as he answered, "Just curious."

As he was facing away, none of them noticed the cut on his left cheek had mostly healed already.

* * *

After getting checked at the gate, Daichi just let his eyes wander around, taking in the sights of the strongest shinobi village. He saw many glares directed at both himself and the blonde kid walking next to him. He wasn't sure who was getting more, himself, a former Iwa-nin, or one of their own.

Most curious.

By then, the black-haired genin had woken up, and joined in on the glare-fest. The pinkette who was almost hanging off of his arm was contributing as well, though in his opinion it was rather pathetic. Kakashi tried to pretend to be indifferent, but he could almost feel the irritation coming off of the man.

A dark mood hung over Daichi as he sent his own intimidating stares back at them. Naruto just seemed to ignore all of it, a cheesy grin plastered to his face. He was starting to rather like the kid, his choice in wardrobe aside. On the way there, the two had chatted and ignored the other three, who were busy doing exactly as they were doing now.

He had winced at some of it. At least he had known his parents, even if it was only for six years. He had laughed at Naruto's near worshipful expression when he talked about ramen.

It also left him with a good bit to think about, which was why he was silent at the moment.

His expression soured as he watched a pair of teenaged Chunnin walk by, the swirl of Uzushio proudly displayed on their backs. Daichi was will to bet thirty ryo that the brats didn't even know where it came from.

A lot to think about, indeed.

* * *

The Sandaime Hokage had seen many things in his day. Three Shinobi World Wars, Orochimaru's betrayal, the Kyuubi's attack, and the death of the Yondaime Hokage. But when Minato's rival walked through the door with a scratched-out Hitai-ate and Team 7, the old man almost swallowed his pipe.

"Kakashi, would you mind explaining why there is a missing-nin in my office?" Hiruzen ordered.

"I can answer for myself, Hokage-sama," Daichi said as he stepped forward.

"Then speak," Sarutobi was wary of the man before him, and with good reason. Though not at the level of the Sannin, he was still deadly in his own right.

The missing-nin nodded, "Hai. I am here pursuing a lead on a personal matter." He poked a thumb towards his Hitai-ate, "I didn't have the Tsuchikage's permission, and I have no intention of returning."

The Hokage sighed, "I'm going to need more than that. What is it exactly that you wanted to speak to me of?"

"I know," Daichi smirked, "I want to petition for custody of Uzumaki Naruto."

"WHAT?!" Half of the room screamed. Naruto, for once, was speechless.

Hiruzen, recovering from a coughing fit, looked at him with a dangerous glint in his eye, "And why should I do that, Yamamoto? On grounds do you make this request?"

The smirk widened, "Because Yamamoto is an assumed name." Before anyone could ask for an explanation, Daichi sent a pulse of chakra through his entire body, deactivating a series of seals that had been running near-constantly for approximately thirty years.

His skin turned a lighter color, while his body grew by an inch and his shoulders broadened. Old burn scars appeared on his upper arms, none of which touched any of his tattoos. His clothing changed with him, having been altered beforehand to adjust to the size change.

His face became slightly more rounded. The cheekbones became less prominent. The light wrinkles around his eyes and the crease on his forehead all by disappeared, replaced by a pair of thin, curved scars on his right cheek. Overall, he had de-aged by a decade. His hair grew to partly cover his ears, shifting from jet black to a bloody crimson. The only thing that remained unchanged was his grey eyes.

Sarutobi's pipe landed on the floor with a _thud_, singing the carpet with the ashes. The old shinobi ignored it, a haunted look on his face as he stared. If he had turned around, Daichi would have seen the same expression on Kakashi.

"My real name is Uzumaki Daichi," Daichi jerked his head towards Naruto, "And I'm that gaki's uncle."

**A/N: And there…it…is! Magic! Due to the fact that the semester is starting back up, I won't have as much time to work on my stories as I would like. **

…**Please don't kill me. Or flame me.**

**As for Daichi, he looks mid-twenties or so, but he's actually in his thirties. Basically, he looks like an older Naruto with red hair, grey eyes, and paler skin, minus the whisker scars. And proper fashion sense.**


End file.
